[Cover photo: Statue of Buddha. "Behold, Disciples,
I Challenge You! Decay is Inherent in all Composite Things. Work Out
Your Own Salvation With Diligence!"]

*

THEOSOPHIA A Living Philosophy For Humanity
Published every two months under the auspices of Lodge No. 60, American-Canadian
Section, Theosophical Society
(International Headquarters, Covina, California).

Public Lectures
The first lecture of 1945 will be held on Sunday, January 14, at 3:00
P.M. Boris de Zirkoff will speak on "Theosophy and the New Year." After
the lecture, there will be held the annual Business Meeting of the
Lodge for the election of new Officers for 1945. All members are urged
to be present at this meeting.
The Lodge is at present negotiating for a new place to hold its meetings.
The schedule of these, as well as their nature, may be considerably changed
in the coming year. As soon as arrangements are completed, all members
and friends of the Lodge will be advised by special notice, well ahead
of time.

Study Classes
Mens' Class, Textbook: Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy,
Second and fourth Monday of every month, at 8:00 P.M.
Class for more advanced studies; textbook: The Esoteric Tradition. Call
up FE5914 for particulars.

Everyone of us, great or small, young or old, has a
responsibility to his fellowmen. The World of Tomorrow is being molded
in the thinking of the people of Today. When we help others to
raise and ennoble their thoughts, we become coworkers with Nature in
building the New World. And let us bear this clearly in our minds: the
shape of coming events depends to a very considerable extent upon the
number of people whose minds and hearts may have been touched with the
soul-healing teachings of Theosophy the Divine Wisdom of the ages.

In the vision of the Great Ones who were the actual
founders of the modern Theosophical Movement, and are still inspiring
those portions of it which have kept true to the original message, the
events of the present era have been foreseen. Their mouthpiece and messenger,
H.P. Blavatsky, had a sure and definite knowledge of what was to come,
and the Theosophical Society, as originally conceived and launched, was
intended as a bulwark to stem the rising tide of materialism; as a spiritual
and philosophical foundation upon which to find a sure footing against
the poisonous gusts of insane psychism; as a catalytic agent to insure
the alchemical transmutation of spiritual rebirth; and as the fountainhead
of ethical and religio-philosophical teachings simple and practical enough
to be understood by the masses and applied to their own salvation, in
the midst of a general intellectual and moral confusion and the fall
of Ideals.

Facing a world in which lawlessness, rapine, violence,
cruelty, deceit, brutal selfishness, legalized murder, and the rest of
the hellish brood are rampant everywhere, cloaked only too often in high-sounding
words hiding behind their spurious facade the dry rot of moral sepulchers;
meeting every day men and women whose souls are yearning for a ray of
some redeeming light, a glimpse of some greater vision wherein hope for
surcease of sorrow may be enshrined; witnessing everywhere the departure
of noble ideals, the vanishing of aspirations, the going out of light
after light in a sea of moral turpitude and spiritual degeneration let
us ask ourselves, students of Theosophy, as we claim to be, to what extent
do we imbody in our lives the great noble truths imparted to us; to what
extent are we cognizant of the trust placed in our hands, and faithful
to the injunctions of H.P. Blavatsky as to the duties and objectives
laid down for Theosophists in their daily work. Are we doing anything
outstanding in these outstanding days? Are we engaged in an allout effort
for the Spirit, when so many of us are going allout in an effort to destroy?
Have we mobilized our spiritual, intellectual and moral resources to
try and counteract at least within our own full capacity the systematic
mobilization of the powers of darkness, whose organized minority may
well spell the doom of a disorganized majority, drunken on its own fancied
power, restive; even yet upon the alleged laurels of a tottering security?
The question that we might well ask of ourselves is: Were H.P. Blavatsky
with us today, what would she do now?

Profound intellectual study of Theosophy is a sine
qua non of all genuine Theosophical work. However, it can be of
true value only to the extent to which it is applied to daily [4] life
and made practical for the upliftment of those who are struggling for
Light. Devoid of immediate application to daily life, it becomes positively
dangerous and productive of added selfishness. Self-centered study
of abstract metaphysics and personal pursuit of one's own spiritual
aggrandizement can never he justified, least of all today. We must
remember the words of the Teachers: "... the chief object of the
T.S. is not so much to gratify individual aspirations as to serve our
fellowmen ..." (The Mahatma Letters, pp. 78).

The only teaching which can answer the perplexing problems
of today and give men and women the key to life's riddles is Theosophy.
People are looking everywhere for precisely that which Theosophy contains.
And yet somehow or other, Theosophy in many quarters does not become
the power that it ought to be, and does not wield the influence which
it can and must. Why is this so? May it not be due to the fact that students
of Theosophy have not been able, generally speaking, to relate their
wonderful teachings to the immediate problems of the great masses of
people, and also to the fact that, instead of simplifying their teachings,
they unwittingly place them on a shelf of abstraction where they mean
but little or nothing to most men?

H.P. Blavatsky places herself right down on the main
floor, as it were, when she says:

"... true evolution teaches us that by altering
the surroundings of the organism we can alter and improve the organism;
and in the strictest sense this is true with regard to man. Every Theosophist,
therefore, is bound to do his utmost to help on, by all the means in
his lower, every wise and well-considered social effort which has for
its object the amelioration of the condition of the poor. Such efforts
should he made with a view to their ultimate social emancipation, or
the development of the sense of duty in those who now so often neglect
it in nearly every relation of life."

"... no Theosophist has the right to this name,
unless he is thoroughly imbued with the correctness of Carlyle's truism:
'The end of man is an action and not a thought, though
it were the noblest' and unless he sets and models his daily life upon
this truth."

"... the main, fundamental object of the Society
is to sow germs in the hearts of Men, which may in time sprout, and under
more propitious circumstances lead to a healthy reform, conducive of
more happiness to the masses than they have hitherto enjoyed."

The Key to Theosophy, pp. 235, 230, 257.

A splendid advice to follow. It is empty cogitation,
mostly of a theological type, plus theoretical scientific meanderings,
devoid of ethical background, which have prepared for centuries the ground
for the present conflict of ideas. It is practical, tangible realism
about life and nature, coupled with and inspired by the loftiest objective
Idealism, which alone can provide a safe foundation for tire structure
of the New Age. And objective Idealism is Theosophy of highest type.

The modern Theosophical Movement faces today its golden
opportunity. Times of plenty dull human minds. Times of stress and sorrow
sharpen those minds through pain and awaken a yearning for spiritual
realities. Students of Theosophy hold within their grasp keys which can
solve people's problems. Theirs is the philosophy of life which, if understood,
can illumine all life and restore peace and goodwill among men. Will
they make that remedy available for all? Will they desist from the technical
jargon of the laboratory and tell the seekers the simple truths which
their hearts are yearning for? Will they come down from the Olympian
heights and walk as mere men in the marketplaces of the earth? It is
there that the urgent need is to be found. That need is Now. Tomorrow
it may be too late. [5]

*

THE
ESOTERICISM OF CHRISTIAN DOGMAH. P. Blavatsky
(Excerpts from the famous controversy with the Abbe Roca, which appeared
in the French occult journal Le Lotus in 188788. Translated from
the original French by Dr. Charles J. Ryan.)

... I said that the New Testament was but a Western
allegory founded upon the universal Mysteries of which tire first historical
traces, in Egypt alone, go back at least to 6,000 years before the Christian
era. I am particular about proving it.

This allegory is that of the Cycle of Initiation, a
new version of the mysteries, at the same time psychical and astronomical. Sabeism and Heliolatry are
therein intimately bound to that other mystery, the Incarnation of the
Word or the decent of the Divine Fiat into the human race, symbolized
in the story of Elohim-Jehovah and the Adam of clay. Hence, psychology
and astrolatry (from which astronomy) cannot be separated therein.

These same fundamental mysteries are found in the sacred
texts of every nation, of every people. From the beginning of the conscious
life of humanity; but when one legend based upon these mysteries attempts
to arrogate exclusive rights above all the rest; when it erects itself
into an infallible dogma to force the popular faith into a belief in
the dead letter to the detriment of the true metaphysical meaning, such
a legend must be denounced, the veil plucked away, and itself displayed
in its nudity before tile world!

So, then, it is useless to speak of the esoteric identity
of universal beliefs until one has thoroughly studied and understood
the true esoteric sense of these two original terms: Chrestos and Christos:
two poles as opposed in their significance as night and day; suffering
and humility, joy and glorification, etc. The true Christians died with
the last of the Gnostics, and the Christians of our day are nothing but
the usurpers of a name they no longer understand ...

Western Theosophists accept the Christos as the Gnostics
of the centuries which preceded Christianity did, as the Vedantins do
with their Krishna: they separate the corporeal man from the divine Principle
which, in the case of the Avatar, animates him. Their Krishna, the historical
hero, is mortal, but the divine Principle (Vishnu) which animates him,
is immortal and eternal; Krishna the man and his name remains terrestrial
at his death, he does not become Vishnu; Vishnu only absorbs that part
of himself that had animated the Avatar, as it animates so many others.

... I repudiate the intention of wounding in the least
those who believe in Jesus, the carnalized Christ, but I feel myself
compelled to emphasize our own belief while explaining it, because the
Abbe Roca wishes to identify it with that of the Roman Church; never
can these two beliefs be united, unless the Catholicism of tile Latin
Church returns to its earliest tenets, those of the Gnostics. Because
the Church of Rome was Gnostic just as much as the Marcionites until
the beginning and even till the middle of the second century; Marcion,
the famous Gnostic, did not separate from it till the year 136, and Tatian
left it still later. Why did they leave it? Because they had become heretics,
the Church pretends; but the history of the cults contributed by esoteric
manuscripts gives us an entirely different version. These famous Gnostics,
they tell us, separated themselves from the Church because they could
not agree to accept a Christ made flesh, and it is in this way
that the process of carnalizing the Christ-principle began; it was then
also that the [6] metaphysical allegory experienced its first
transformation that allegory which was the fundamental doctrine of all
the Gnostic fraternities* (* The Gnostics were actually divided into
various fraternities, such as: Essenes, Therapeuts, Nazarenes or Nazars
(from which Jesus of Nazareth); "James," the Lord's brother,
head of the Church of Jerusalem, was a Gnostic to the backbone, an ascetic
of the old Biblical type, i.e., a Nazar dedicated to asceticism
from his birth. The razor had never touched his head or beard. He was
such a one as Jesus is represented in legends or pictures and such as
are all the "Brother-Adepts" of every country; from the yogi-fakir
of India to the greatest Mahatma of the Initiates of the Himalayas.).

... So, then, the time is still far distant when "all
the people of the universe will form one single flock under one single
shepherd"; before that arrives human nature will have to be completely
modified; we must first reach the Seventh Race, according to the prophecy
of the Book of Dzyan, because it is then that the "Christos" designated
by his various names, also by those of the Gnostic "heretics" will
reign in the soul of everyone, in the soul of all those who shall have
accepted the Chrest from the first ** (** A word which is neither
the Krest (cross) of the Slavs, nor the "Christ" crucified
of the Latins. The Ray made manifest from that center of life which is
hidden from the eyes of humanity for and in Eternity, the Christos,
crucified as a body of flesh and bones!!!), I do not say simply those
who will have become Christians, which is quite another thing. For, let
us proclaim it once for all, the word Christ, which means the glorified,
the triumphant, and also "anointed'' (from the word chrio,
to anoint) cannot be applied to Jesus. Even according to the Gospels, Jesus
was never anointed, either as High Priest, as King or as Prophet. "As
a mortal," remarks Nork, "he was annointed only once, by a
woman, and not because he offered himself as king or High Priest, but,
as he said himself, for his burial." Jesus was a Chrestos:
chrestos o kurios (the Lord is good) as St. Peter said (1st Epistle ii,
3) whether he actually lived during the Christian era or a century earlier,
in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus and his wife Salome, at Lud, as the Sepher
Toledoth Jehoshua indicates *** (*** Having mentioned to Madame Blavatsky
that, according to certain scholars, this assertion is erroneous, she
answered as follows: "I say that the scholars are lying or talking
nonsense. Our Masters affirm it. If the story of Jehoshua or Jesus
Ben Pandira is false, then the whole Talmud, the whole Jewish Canon is
false. It was the disciple of Jehoshua Ben Parachia, the fifth President
of tire Sanhedrin after Ezra, who rewrote the Bible. Compromised
in the revolt of the Pharisees against Jannaeus in 105 B.C., he fled
into Egypt carrying the young Jesus with him. Far truer is this account
then that of the New Testament of which history says not a word.").

And there were other ascetics in the condition of
the Chrestos, even in his time: all those who, entering into the
arduous path of asceticism, traveled on the road which leads to tire Christos,
the Divine Light all those were in the Chrestos state, ascetics belonging
to the oracular temples ... All that entered into the cycle of initiation;
anyone who wants to be convinced of it has merely to investigate. No "sacrificial
victim" could be united to Christ triumphant before passing
through that preliminary stage of the suffering Chrest who was
put to death. [7]

Astronomically, it was the death of the Sun *
(* Upon the cross of the autumnal equinox, the point where
the ecliptic crosses the equator, and where the sun descends into
that last circle, announcing winter, death.), but death the precursor
of the New Sun ** (** Christmas, when the sun re-ascends towards the
Equator after having passed the Winter Solstice, announcing Spring, the
renewal,
Easter.), death engendering life in the bosom of darkness.

Psychologically, it was the death of the senses and
the flesh, the resurrection of the spiritual Ego, the Christos
in each one of us ...

... The Christos which Theosophists ... acknowledge,
ever since the secula seculorum, is the Spiritual Ego,
glorious and triumphant over the flesh ... Once united to his Atma-Christos,
the Ego, by that very act, loses the great illusion called egoism, and
perceives at last the fullness of truth; that Ego knows that it
has never lived outside the great All, and that it is inseparable
from it. Such is Nirvana, which, for it, is only the return to its primitive
condition or state. Imprisoned in its oubliette (underground cell
where the prisoner was forgotten) of flesh and matter, it has lost even
the conception or memory of that condition, but once the light of Spirit
has revealed to it the illusion of the senses, it places no more trust
in earthly things, for it has learned to scorn them; now is the Son united
to the Father; thenceforth the soul is one with Spirit! and when a man
has reached this point in the Gnosis, or Theosophy, what has he then
to do with the dogmas of any Church whatever?

*

REFLECTIONS
ON UNIVERSAL TRADITIONWm. W. Stevens
(The Editors have sought and obtained permission to publish the following
excerpts from a private letter written by Wm. W. Stevens, a high Mason
and a Fellow of the Theosophical Society, to one of his friends. We feel
that these excerpts will be of genuine interest to all of our readers.)

About 1905, I read a monograph from the Congressional
Library on the removal of the obelisk from Alexandria to Central Park,
N.Y. It was written by the Navy officer, not a Mason, in charge of the
expedition, the special operation of opening the ship's bow on one side
for the loading of the huge monolith, etc. My main interest was in the
objects found buried in the base. The obelisk taken to London had fallen,
centuries ago, and its base had been looted and its stonework had been
carried away, no doubt for building. But the one allocated to the U.S.
was still standing on a base of three steps where it had stood since
before the birth of Christ, when it had, with its mate, been removed
there from before the gate of the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, where
there is reason to believe that Moses, a high caste Egyptian, and not
a Hebrew, went to school. The contents of the base must, therefore, have
been there since the obelisk was last there erected, over two thousand
years ago.

In this base were found, after the removal of the shaft,
a cube of rough stone, which had been tooled to increase the roughness
of its natural fracture, a cube of white stone perfectly squared and
finished smooth, a stone square formed along two edges of a flat slab
by cutting the slab down so as to leave the square raised a couple of
inches, the longer side of the square marked in twenty four divisions,
a trowel attached to [8] the depressed surface by bedding in cement,
a plumb bob and other objects of similar import which I do not now remember.
You will recognize the counterparts of the objects referred to in the
Blue Lodge ritual. Obviously these artifacts had been buried there as
we place objects in a cornerstone, and had some symbolic meaning. The
monograph did not try to explain, nor did it state any special significance
it merely described the articles meticulously, with illustrations.

Since then I have believed that this was proof of the
existence of some continuous thread of teaching which has come down to
us in the form that we call Masonry and that such teaching may have been
ancient when the obelisk was set in place upon these symbols. I have
also read some of the numerous works on the great pyramid which seem
to indicate that it was far from being merely a king's mausoleum, but
a basis for measures, a place of initiation and a symbol of the utmost
religious significance.

T ... himself had told me something of that, for example,
that the Washington monument had a direct reference to the great pyramid,
in that its pyramidal top was of the same shape and general height of,
and represented the fez point or capstone of the great pyramid, which
is also shown on the reverse of the great seal of the U.S. which you
will find on the back of any dollar bill. These things do not come by
chance but are ordered by men of wisdom who know the significance of
symbols and use them as Masonry does, as a sort of esoteric shorthand,
as a reminder to others who are able to understand the meanings underlying
the symbols.

From these and similar observations I became convinced
that there is a tradition or thread of human thought which has come down
from ages so remote as to make the Roman empire and the Christian era
a matter of yesterday in the full light of history, as they would be
if it had not been for the burning of the great library of Alexandria,
and the patient zeal of the iconoclasts of the early Christian church
who destroyed systematically everything they could find that antedated
Christianity and showed any of the symbols it had appropriated from earlier
beliefs.

Then I read up on the history of the lost continent
of Atlantis of which Plato's story gives us the final chapters, from
which I went on to the history of Lemuria, the lost continent of the
Pacific, of which New Zealand, Australia and all of the Pacific islands
are the present remains. From Easter Island to the pre-Inca megalithic
masonry, from the Mexican pyramids to the Druid dolmens, all through
the long story run traces of this same symbolism, all over the earth,
innumerable examples. There is certainly a tradition that is so ancient
it far outdates the minimum period ascribed to the great pyramid on astronomical
grounds.

The great Mystery Schools in all the early civilizations,
of which the Greek and Egyptian are best known to us, were not merely
the oracles of soothsayers as our school books led us to believe, but
were the universities of their time to which every well born man went
for as much illumination as he was able to absorb. These again had the
esoteric thread. The mythology of Greece was no fantastic fairy late
but was the exoteric teaching given to the common people who were not
able to comprehend the high meaning of the teachings of which the myths
were a parable.

And, in Theosophy, that is in its literature, I have
found the explanation that ties the whole together, without asking for
any blind faith or advancing any creed or dogma, only that one accept
what one's own intelligence acknowledges is established by reason. [9]

*

"THEOSOPHY
SPEAKS"Reincarnation (continued)
Transcribed Radio Broadcast of January 9, 1944 over Station KMPC, Beverly
Hills, California.

Announcer: "Theosophy Speaks!" ... "Light for the Mind
- Love for the Heart - Understanding for the Intellect."

Last Sunday, in presenting the second of four discussions
on "REINCARNATION," "Theosophy Speaks" stated that
it is inconsistent to suppose Man is given just one short lifetime in
which to perfect himself. The evolution of our physical, mental, emotional
and spiritual natures takes aeons of time. When we die we leave many
unfinished duties, unlearned lessons, unsatisfied longings and frustrations,
because we have been unable or unwilling to learn the needed lessons
from our many and varied experiences and so are mercifully given other
chances in repeated lives on earth. Ignorance or fear do not make us
exception to the orderly working out of Nature's Laws. We mentioned that
we sow good amt bad seeds through our thoughts, words, actions, and reactions
to the events of our lives and it is only logical that we should return
to the scene of the sowing, which is on Earth, to harvest the crop. It
was said too that we take our rightful place in civilizations through
the Ages, according to merit merit not necessarily meaning wealth and
position. A gardner or shopkeeper may be more highly evolved than the
leader of a nation. Our environments are in keeping with the lessons
we need to learn in any particular life. We also brought out that while
we do not remember our past lives, the RESULTS of those lives are plainly
written in our CHARACTER. Our weaknesses are the failures, our strengths
are the victories of past effort in other lives. And when we are born
again or REINCARNATE: we pick up where we left off before. Today, we
continue this transcribed theme with three friends who have been walking
home from a public lecture.

BILL: Yes. Do you realize this is the twelfth successive
Sunday we've spent together, chasing that will-the-wisp called Truth?

HAL: Well, I certainly have learned a lot about myself
and the Universe, I never knew before thanks to good old Tom here.

TOM: Thanks to THEOSOPHY, you mean. You have learned
a lot, boys, but there must be some questions churning around in your
minds or pieces of the jigsaw puzzle missing, so to speak. Sure you have
a clear picture of Reincarnation, for instance?

BILL: I don't want to be a skeptic, Tom, but I still
find it hard to believe that there is more than one life on Earth the
life we're living now.

HAL: Then you still believe, Bill, that all of your
hundreds of ancestors have slowly added to what you call "improvement" in
your character, your moral values and higher standards of living? Something
like bricks that are laid on one another to build a tower and that you
are one of these bricks, and you will support a still better and higher
tower after you pass on? Is that right?

BILL: Yes, that's about the way I feel. I want to do
my best by my family, friends, and the world; I want to be a good, dependable
brick. But ...

TOM: But you are willing to accept proof, to satisfy
your logical mind, that you actually have lived many times on Earth and
that the reason you are a good brick now is because in the past you learned
through experience how to become a good, dependable brick.

BILL: That's what I want proof!

TOM: Okay, Bill. You're a [10] square-shooter
... everyone who knows you says so. You go about your tasks, living a
life of high standards. You've built what the world calls a good character
you have the love and esteem of your family. Why have you taken the pains
and trouble to build this kind of a character and way of life?

HAL: Well, I think that's about the way most of us feel
or should.

TOM: Of course it is. But let's do a little reviewing.
Bill wants to be satisfied about Reincarnation. Now, Bill just said he
likes himself better when he tries to be decent. And I want to ask him
which self he refers to when he says myself?

BILL: Well, Tom, I suppose I mean my Better Self the
thing I live with that seems to want me to do right as I see it.

TOM: That's your conscience, Bill and the Conscience
is the Voice of the Spirit. You remember what the lecturer said so many
times today that the higher, more spiritual parts of us never die. There's
your answer to reincarnation. When a man dies, all that is physical or
material disintegrates. But the higher, more spiritual parts of us, never
die but go into a period of rest withdrawn for a time from active life.
There is nothing mysterious in all this. We see it in the way Nature
works all about us. Vegetation sleeps in the winter and awakens in the
spring; we sleep during the night and wake in the morning to a new day.
Death is but a longer, more complete sleep after which we awaken to a
new life, bringing with us the character we have made for ourselves.
Doesn't that sound logical?

HAL: Tom, to me that conception of what life is all
about is beautiful and satisfying. So many of us today wonder if there
is any plan or purpose to life, or are we just dust here today and gone
tomorrow.

TOM: I came across something J. B. Priestley wrote that
might be enlightening. He said, "There is in me, as there is in
everybody, something that a few years of this life cannot possibly satisfy,
and this 'something' is easily the most important part of me. And if
I thought there was nothing in this Universe that could respond to my
inner needs that all this was silly illusion I would consider it a crime
to have helped bring children into the world, would see in every birth,
the beginning of another hopeless tragedy."

BILL: Sounds like a Theosophist is he?

TOM: No, Priestley is not a Theosophist. But logical
truths appeal to all thinking men. But, as I was saying, the Spiritual
part of us never dies, but keeps coming back into life on Earth until
we have mastered all of Life's lessons. We can't "see" it but
it's what keeps telling you to be a good brick.

HAL: Excuse me, Tom I've got a thought ... There's
a constant duel going on between our Higher and Lower Selves. That's
why we have problems and experiences, life after life ... until our
Better Self wins the duel and its victory is reflected in our characters
and all our everyday actions. And that's the difference between what
is called a "good" man and a "bad" one.

TOM: Well, you know that man isn't just tire body of
flesh that you see. Let's call this body his Earth Garment. Second comes
the model-body, like the blueprint made before a house is built; this
is astral or of more ethereal stuff than his flesh, blood and bones.
Third, we speak sometimes of a man as a "bundle of energy." This
is life-force, or that which makes your heart beat and your lungs function
when you are fast asleep. Fourth, you have often heard [11] someone
say of another, "She is a bundle of emotions." Well, we all
have an emotional self pretty hard to control at times too. And fifth
is our mind, or intelligence which distinguishes us from beasts the "Thinker" in
us, as Plato put it. Next or sixth is the Spiritual Self, which is recognizable
as Intuition Compassion. And seventh, our Divine Self, linked with Divine
Intelligence some call it God. All these Selves are linked during life
like pearls on an invisible chain.

BILL: Do they work together in unison?

TOM: They should but they don't. And because they don't,
we travel the road of Reincarnation until they do. Sometimes people concentrate
too much on, let's say, the Mental Self to the detriment of the others.
Some spend all their energy on the Physical Self some on the Emotional
Self. And that is why most of us are off-center or off the beam, as we
say now. The purpose of life is to teach men how to control all seven
phases so that they DO function in unison. When that happens, a man is
TRULY a man.

BILL: That's very interesting and ingenious too, even
if it is only a theory.

HAL: Wait a minute! Theories are here today and gone
tomorrow and what Tom has just said has been taught by every great Teacher
from time immemorial and a fundamental truth always survives time and
civilizations.

BILL: Okay you got me! I'll ask another question while
Tom is in such good form. I'm not quite sure yet just what it is that
incarnates since man has those seven selves.

TOM: It's the "Thinker" in man, Bill. We call
it the Reincarnating Ego. Our repeated appearances, or incarnations on
earth, are acts in the great drama of our evolution.

HAL: Well, fellows ... sitting here on the sidelines
and listening to you two iron out this important matter of rebirth, sort
of has me wondering when, if ever, this game of life and more life will
end. How many innings we have to play before the game is over. Why, it's
like English cricket!

TOM: Hal, you know the answer to that yourself we've
gone over it before.

HAL: That's so, Tom ... but let me see if I have it
straight. Life is like a complete course in education from kindergarten
to postgraduate work and then a Master's degree. And we've got to know
all the lessons and learn how to handle all the problems before we are
ready for that master's degree. This takes a long time in fact, many
lives because we make a lot of mistakes, and these have all got to be
rectified, or balanced like keeping books. I remember you called this
balancing Karma or Karman, didn't you, Tom?

TOM: Yes, that's the Sanskrit name given to the Law
of Cause and Effect. Let's suppose this Law didn't work in the Universe.
What would happen, Bill?

BILL: Well, of course there would be no justice, for
one thing. A man could get away with anything he didn't get caught at
like some think they can.

HAL: And there would be no harmony all brute stuff and
supreme selfishness. I hate even to think of it.

TOM: Right! There's got to he balance and justice throughout
Nature. We all upset this balance continually and in some past life this
upset may have been serious and caused much suffering and we have to
clear the slate. But ... Karmic action isn't all on the bad side of
the ledger.

BILL: What do you mean, Tom?

TOM: I mean we get what we earn, or what's coming to
us. Good and bad.

TOM: Yes ... and learning to substitute kindness,
sympathy, and love. When we do these things, we are working WITH Nature
and earn good Karma. Our reward is quicker evolution ... happier lives.
And we don't try to do these worthy things because we are "noodles" or "teacher's
pets," but because we understand Natures Laws.

HAL: Well, those laws are really simple, but powerful,
if I'm any judge.

TOM: Hal, all of us can learn if we'll listen to and
heed "the still small voice within" it continually teaches
us. We don't have to see everything with our eyes, or hear with our physical
ears. We have inner eyes and inner ears, and an inner Consciousness where
a God dwells. Our goal should be self-mastery, self-discipline, and self-knowledge.
We reach that goal by self-effort during lives on earth. Reincarnation
is HOPE. ANOTHER CHANCE. EVENTUAL VICTORY.

*

THEOSOPHY
AND YOUTHElinor Hufty

Why acquaint youth with Theosophy? What is it in Theosophy
that can strike the chord of harmony and furnish the fuel for the ardor
of youth as it steps through the portals into life? And, how call we
accomplish this?

In seeking the right answer to these questions, let
us always remember that Truth in its essence comes from within each one
of us, and give thanks that this Law is as unchangeable as immortal Truth
itself. It is our heritage, be we atoms or gods. But alas, even though
this sublime Light shines within as the guiding beacon for all, the minute
we utter a word about it to another, a magic phenomenon occurs and it
changes for the listener to the "without," colored to a greater
or lesser degree by the personality expressing it. Thus, we, the novices
of today, are handicapped, even in giving, for in the physical world
we are able to deal with illusions only and even then weakly. However,
if we could possibly perceive and experience the One becoming the many,
we should probably then be able to explain the mystery beyond. At any
rate we can at least surmise that Those who can, (and we need not on
faith alone see the truth that there are those who can) are masters of
the illusion of form with which we deal and hence are more able to project
the truth through a purer channel.

But our plight is not as difficult as it appears at
first, for the inner Truth in its higher aspects manifests in the outer
world in parallel and general ways, and through this similarity we are
able to recognize increasing relationships. Thus, paradoxically, we find
our own level of consciousness continually rising with every effort to
point out relative truths to others.

The very mention of the word Theosophy places its teachings
in a classified select group, much in the same manner as the mentioning
of a Medical Society, or a Religious denomination. It brings to mind
a certain identification of qualities. At this state of life's evolution
it is difficult, if not impossible, to select any name and not draw from
those "without" a mental picture of a group of people adhering
to a Truth which they as individuals have perceived through their level
of development, and in this way, express it according to their pattern.
But a name must exist if there is to be a channel [13] in the
outer world for the inner spirit to manifest in creative work; so, for
us, it is now called Theosophy.

Why acquaint youth with Theosophy? First of all, no
youth (and let us consider all people as youth) reaching outward to grow
into something finer can afford to close his or her mind to any channel
before investigating its nature. It is easy to condemn in ignorance;
everyone should at least know something about Theosophy, and if they
cannot agree and follow that line of thought, then let them graciously
retire saying, "It is not my way of life!" Let them be careful,
however, lest they try to change the Immutable Laws and thereby crush
themselves. Then, let us not ignore the principle of outer stimulant
that is also all-important in the awakening of man to a greater life
and development. Can we ever forget that the tree is judged by its fruit?

What is it in Theosophy that would strike the chord
of harmony in youth? Immediately we see on the horizon the "Law
of Attraction." What is the magnet in operation? Herein lies the
keynote of the life of a Theosophist. In fact, the keynote of every life-expression
known to human kind. What do we express? In what are we a positive force?
Are we filled with the enthusiasm of life's energies flowing outward
in creative action? Do we have visions to build? Do we love? Do we sacrifice
all on the altar of freedom and ideals? Normal youth does! It is filled
with ambition to do something, to be someone, to rise above limitations.
It cares little for conventionalities or restrictions and it fears not
even death itself. Of course we are only too well aware that youth often
bends these powers in wrong directions, but this does not discount the
truth that the power is there, and its application in daily life only
shows more clearly the result of the absence of the stimulant of Divine
Truth.

The idealistic objectives of the Theosophical Society,
namely, first, to establish a nucleus of the Brotherhood of Man; second,
to promote the study of the world's religions, philosophies and sciences;
and third, to seek out and develop the hidden powers in man, hold within
themselves sufficient stimulant and food to protect youth from the restrictive
bonds of the psychological ills of middle-age and keep alive the will
to be free and powerful in joyous eternal life.

If youth does not succeed in bridging the gap between
the materialistic education and religious training and gives it up as
a hopeless task, they are bound to become slaves of circumstances and
conditions, ignorantly traveling in circles of confusion, darkness and
death. Living dead men, whose spirits sleep, roaming the world.

It is to be remembered that youth will judge those who
give them the stimulant by the way they live the life of Theosophy;
how they meet the problems of daily life, be it in their personal life
of friends and family, or in the national life of industry or science,
religion or arts.

Therefore, we can accomplish this feat of acquainting
youth with Theosophy only by expressing it ourselves. When we can see
everyone as a soul instead of as an animal with different characteristics
or skin coloring, emotional habits or mental traits, and serve all in
impersonal brotherly love, apply the knowledge we acquire in wise action,
and become a positive power by developing our potentialities, we will
strike that chord of the Spirit of Youth for the Spirit of Youth is the
Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Truth is that Great Unknown that seeks
manifestation eternally and in all ways. [14]

*

WATCHING
OUR THOUGHTSNorine G. Chadil

We are often asked what Theosophists do daily to gain
a livable foothold for their accepted conduct. There is no doubt but
that in each and everyone of us, there remains at least a faint earlier
remembrance of past ritualistic ways or ceremonies. Consequently, in
some schools of thought, the reading of certain prescribed passages sometime
during the day, or listening to a designated radio time are the most
accepted of present day disciplines. However, too often that type so
satisfies the human brain conception of doing something for one's soul,
that, upon returning to the usual duties, it drops back comfortably into
its former rut. Constant repetition of that class of study too often
dulls the desire to think from within outward.

Theosophy tries to overcome this by taking the study
a step further, in that, either before one arises or at some other convenient
time, one tries to bring forth from within one's innermost Self the idea
of right thinking and right acting. By studying our books we know the
laws, but the problem is to make them applicable to our own individual
selves. These thoughts must come from our own hearts, because every thought,
word and action must be carefully watched for its sincerity. Sincerity
is one of the key-thoughts of Theosophy.

Joy, too, should be a constant companion, for does not
the Theosophist know that there will always be a tomorrow in which to
mend mistakes and reap rewards, though this 'mending' should never he
deliberately postponed until tomorrow, if it can be done today.

Much should be expected from the Theosophist of today,
because these are the challenging times in which he can best display,
not only his loyalty to the teachings of the ancient wisdom, but his
warm understanding of the problems of others. This, certainly, is not
the time to withdraw within oneself, no matter what the temptation. These
are the times in which to send out into this hate-torn world all the
constructive love and enthusiasm of which one is capable, supporting
our endeavors
by the effulgence of the Theosophical Ideal.

*

Now in the Key to Theosophy H.P.B. plainly states
that the strength and power of this Movement will not rest so much in
the technical occult knowledge of the members as in the spiritual development,
coupled with good commonsense, which they shall have attained. By the
time spoken of (the end of the century), those of us who are now in the
Movement will have passed beyond the limits of mortal life. But our lives
and thoughts will live after us in those who shall through the next ten
years become our associates, and they will carry on the succession just
as we leave it to them.

Let everyone, then, who reads this listen to the call.
A mental sacrifice is demanded, an abandonment of self, a complete renunciation,
an entire devotion to the cause. Altruism must be made the line of our
lives, for by that alone can the end in view be reached. We are not associated
in this Movement for our own individual profit, nor for the glory of
H.P.B., nor for the making of new mysteries or dogmas, but only that
men and races of men after us may become brothers such as we should be.

William Q. Judge, in 1890. [15]

*

THOUGHTS
BY THE WAYSIDE

As Christmastide rolls around again, and we celebrate
the birthday of Jesus, the man who became Christed, we can brush aside
the mental wrangling as to the actual date and place of birth, or even
whether such a person is an actual historical character or not.

All such things are the Trivia, mulled over by those
who are dedicated to Mental Gymnastics, instead of Spiritual Illumination.
The important thing is WHAT IS THE MESSAGE, that was brought to suffering
Humanity, by the individual known to us as Jesus of Nazareth; or, if
you like, the message purported to have been brought to the World, by
an alleged historical Character. It does not matter. It is the message
that counts.

Knowledge does not acquaint Man with The Christ, it
only tells him of the NATURE of The Christ. Mere knowledge of The Christ
arouses controversies, and one teaching and then another claims to he
the Superior Teaching. There can be Superior or Inferior knowledge of
the Christ, but the Christ itself is the same in all lands and climes
and in all Races of People. The Christ is the Spark in every man's heart,
that makes it possible for man to live and move and breathe, even though
he may know it not.

The Christos, the Divinity in Man, appears as a new
born babe in man's consciousness. It must be fed and nourished and clothed
with a garment of different substance, than man wears on the Outer Form.
This garment must be without seam or rent it is the garment of his perfection.
The error of all Races, who call themselves Superior Races, is to think
that Growth in Knowledge is all that is expected of man. The growth in
Grace is far more important. There never was a man on earth who had grown
in GRACE, who could be considered ignorant. Grace goes hand in hand with
Wisdom. Knowledge goes hand in hand with Superiority. There is no such
thing as Superiority, in the language of the Christ.

Man's ignorance goes on apace. In spite of the Libraries
of the World, telling of the Christ, few there be who are directed in
their search, to find it in their OWN HEART, much less to recognize the
Christ in every other HEART.

The Christians think that they alone have the Christ.
The Jew knows he is yet to be born. The Moslem claims the Christ in the
name of one man or another, although they recognize the Man Jesus as
a Christed One. The Hindu says he is without beginning and without end
of days; and in that respect, understands the Jesus Man better than most
Christians, who claim him for their own.

All over the earth today, Christ is being born in the
hearts of men. The sufferings of war, brought about by man's selfishness
and greed, are bringing this about. True, he is yet a "Babe in swaddling
clothes," but the Old Man with his deeds is being consumed, being
put off, and is in his death throes in countless natures. The Babe will
grow to Manhood and Womanhood in The New Age, for he is being born in
the HEARTS of MEN. At the end of The New Age, he will come to Manhood,
for this is the Age of Living The Christ Life. In the past age, people
merely talked about it. The first coming of the Christ, was the outer
appearance in a Christed Form. The second coming will he in the Hearts
of Men. The third, and final one, will be when he dwells in all the hearts
of every living being.

MORAL: The Law of Grace (Divine Love) is to the Soul
Plane, what the Law of Karman is to the Mental and Material.

And that's Christmas Theosophy.

The Wayfarer. [Hubert S. Turner] [16]

*

Statement

The original Theosophical Society was
founded in New York City in 1875, by Helena P. Blavatsky, Col. Henry
S. Olcott, Wm. Q. Judge and others. At present there are several independent
theosophical organizations differing in methods of work but all having
as their main objective the dissemination of the Ancient Wisdom and the
promotion of Universal Brotherhood.

All genuine Theosophical work is invariably
devoid of creeds and dogmas; its nature is philosophical, religious,
scientific and humanitarian; it is traditionally unsectarian and strictly
nonpolitical. It forms an integral part of a universal intellectual and
ethical movement which has been active, whether publicly recognized or
not, in all races and ages.

The objects of the Theosophical Society
are: (a) To diffuse among men a knowledge of the laws inherent in the
Universe; (b) To promulgate the knowledge of the essential unity of all
that is, and to demonstrate that this unity is fundamental in Nature;
(c) To form an active brotherhood among men; (d) To study ancient and
modern religion, science, and philosophy; (e) To Investigate the powers
innate in man.

The sole condition of Fellowship in the
Theosophical Society is a sincere acceptance of the principle of Universal
Brotherhood. Fellows of the Society are required to show the same thoughtful
consideration for the beliefs of others that they desire others to show
towards their own.

The Theosophical Society, with General
Offices formerly located at Point Loma, now has its International Headquarters
near Covina, Calif. From 1929 to 1942 its Leader was Dr. G. de Purucker;
since his passing, the society is under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet,
whose present Chairman is Iverson L. Harris, from early youth a devoted
student and a very active worker in the Organization.

The Society is composed of National Sections,
autonomous under its Constitution: the Sections, in turn, are composed
of autonomous Lodges, under the direction of their National President.
The chief Officers of the American Canadian Section are: Col. Arthur
L. Conger, President, 802 Jackson Avenue, Washington 12, D.C.; J. Emory
Clapp, Executive Vice-President, 30 Huntington Avenue, Boston 16, Mass.:
the Regional Official for the Western Coast is Harold W. Dempster, 940
Third Avenue, San Diego, Calif.

The official Organ of the Society is The
Theosophical Forum ($2.00 a year). The American Section magazine
is Lucifer ($1.00). In this Section there is a minimum membership
fee of $6.00 a year. This is not the nature of compulsory dues, but
is rather a moral obligation voluntarily assumed. This amount includes
yearly subscriptions to both magazines mentioned above.

These and other books and pamphlets may be obtained from
Lodge No. 60, 500 South Gramercy Place, Los Angeles 5, California.

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